Comcast to offer Extreme 105Mbps broadband package starting in June?
By Vlad Savov 
posted May 26th 2010 8:49AM
posted May 26th 2010 8:49AM
posted May 26th 2010 8:49AM
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£140 per month?! Wowzers.
Still, that's some quick internets right there!
@Herbaceous Border Patrol WOW.... $200 and its not even CLOSE to symmetrical, not to mention the fact that Comcast has a 250GB monthly cap.
PASS
@MCV
Yea, definitely pass!
Besides, doesnt Cablevision have a 101Mbps option for $99/mo?
@MCV
1. You'll be rapped up in a Business class package you're internet will no longer be considered residential service.
2. Business class service means that you don't have the bandwidth cap.
3. To add Business class customers get a same day turn-around on service calls and 99% uptime guaranteed.
I'd upgrade but, I need to make sure my router can handle it. It's having problems sharing the 50 down connection right now...
@Herbaceous Border Patrol
I belive a 100/100Mbit cost around 40usd here in Denmark, where there are Fiber, where I live its still not out, I pay 30usd for 20/5Mbit :(
@F C I thought cablevision's 101Mbps is expensive... good luck selling your package comcast.
@Herbaceous Border Patrol : *75Mbps actual speed. :)
@Techtrino
That's pretty cheap. If you want Cable in the UK you're pretty much left with Virgin... It would cost me $46 for the same 20/5 here in the UK...
/sadface
@Herbaceous Border Patrol
What's all that bandwidth good for if it's coming from Comcast? The same net neutrality opposing d***** bags fighting the FCC...
@Herbaceous Border Patrol
I pay 66,50 euro/month for 120/10 triple play (so it includes digital TV and telephone). This is a pretty crappy offer.
@PlatinumSkeet I had business class on TWC, but it was a $30 premium over the base package, and competitive with other options, not $100 premium over the closest competition...
I did quite enjoy being on a business class network, coming home to find a note that TWC had been by for local testing after seeing bad data reported in the logs, or getting a call asking if I was having trouble if they thought the problem was inside my house instead of down the street from it, but never once was I refunded for downtime, even if they didn't meet the guarantees, and it was no more or less problematic than the residential service. I stopped paying the premium as all it really got me was a static IP, which I could otherwise get for $10 without the business services.
@Herbaceous Border Patrol
Here in Japan i can get 1gbps fiber (with 1gpbs up/down with a 5tb traffic limit) for 95 USD (8,700yen) a month. It always amazes me to see how slow and bad internet is in the states.
@stemu2000 That's because we have garbage infrastructure from the 70's (that's actually when the copper for T-1 lines was laid, or earlier). Then our government created a duopoly by giving ownership to AT&T and Verizon and it's literally only been in the last 15 years or so that smaller companies have been able to lease that copper from AT&T and Verizon to provide their own service.
I don't get the big deal here, it's not any unique innovation by Comcast. Apparently engadget hasn't heard of DOCSIS 3.0, all the cable ISP's are rolling it out this year. Some test markets have already had this over a year on Cox and Comcast among others. They're simply bonding four of the same 40mbps capable downstream channels that DOCSIS 2 modems use now. I *think* I read the spec may allow for up to 8 bonded channels because I've seen some people in test markets posting speedtest benches over 320mbps on cable.
@MCV
It all depends on how much your time is worth to you.
UnCap that 250 limit and I'll be happy to upgrade to this plan.
@stemu2000 When your country is a bazillion times larger than Japan, Denmark, and England it is hard to improve infastructure. Not to mention the collusion between providers that allows them to take their sweet ass time. In a smaller(geographical) market a new player can come in and setup shop and start pressuring the big boys to play fair. Here that doesn't work.
I don't get the big deal here, it's not any unique innovation by Comcast. Apparently engadget hasn't heard of DOCSIS 3.0, all the cable ISP's are rolling it out this year. Some test markets have already had this over a year on Cox and Comcast among others. They're simply bonding four of the same 40mbps capable downstream channels that DOCSIS 2 modems use now. I *think* I read the spec may allow for up to 8 bonded channels because I've seen some people in test markets posting speedtest benches over 320mbps on cable.
@RLBurkes Actually current situation in US only adds to evidence to the side of the "corporations are actually running this country".
Are there ISPs in New York or SF providing 100mbps FTTP for less than USD$50? The population density there is much higher than in Denmark or my own country. I can understand that companies don't want to invest in areas where population density is low, but not doing investments in those big cities is only corporate greed(also known as maximizing ROI)
@Herbaceous Border Patrol
"up to" means a lot to most of us here
if it says that they can rot in hell for all i care
@MCV
Comcast has a 250GB bandwidth cap only for Resident not for Businesses so on the business side, this is a win/win.
@PlatinumSkeet
Obviously, you went somewhere else to find out that it's business class, because no where in the post does it say that. But you also obviously failed to read the photo, because it says that a Netgear WNR3500 router will be available for no additional cost. So you won't have to worry about your current router's issues.
@MCV Yeah :( .. Still waiting for that crazy 1GB Broad band plan of google. I say patience is a virtue. Opinions. http://j.mp/googlee-isp
Fmeh. You've got the 105Mbps but you've still got the 250GB monthly limit. On the whole I like the service I get from Comcast, but I have way, way too much traffic, it's only a matter of time before I get banhammered. When I write beats I constantly send FLAC/WAV copies out, it KILLS my alloted bandwidth.
@Level 5 : I'm from Sweden so I'm not used to capped connections. What happens when you reach your 250GB limit? Do you get totally cut off from internet or can you still check your mail etc? And how much is 250 GB? How much traffic does a few hours of World of Warcraft generate, or just watching some TV on demand?
@Argot My house just got cut off from comcast-we used 652GB/mo, and we're now shut off for a year. we have five people here and really don't torrent much- we don't have cable, so there constanly at least a couple HD netflix streams or hulu etc pretty much 24/7. Those bastards. Now I'm stuck with rcn 20/2 (that's as FAST as they have :(. ) but at least they have no cap from what I understand. I'm dying to get docsis 3.0 back.
@Level 5 So your only recourse would be to send your music over cellular with a 5GB cap? Though with cellular speeds it might take you a month to send out that much data.
@Argot The 658GB user is an extreme case though. 3,800kb/s for Netflix HD. That's .000475 GB/s. So one movie 24/7 would be 287 GB for a week I think.
Bandwidth caps suck, but I use the same services and I do torrent without even coming close to 250. But I don't live in a house with 4 like minded nerds.
@Level 5 Comcast's top plan at any given time has no cap.
So if you get the 105mbps plan, can go hog wild if you like.
The downside is the current 50mbps plan which is the top and has no cap will soon have a cap since it will no longer be the top plan. 50mbps users, beware.
@Level 5
250gb is about equal to the first five seasons (100 episodes, give or take a few) of LOST in 720p.
@Level 5
I haven't even used 250GB in the months I got this firefox extension, http://i47.tinypic.com/9gezo7.png
Although that doesn't include uTorrent and my family. But still, that number your seeing for total, was all my browser within a period of several months.
Virgin Media bring out 100Mb in the uk this year, hope its cheaper than that!
@ChairmanMeow I just wish the government would hurry up and get some fibre to the rest of the UK where it's not economical for companies like virgin to do it. I live in a town with 40,000 people and it's still supposedly not worth them doing it.
@ChairmanMeow *hiss* one too many cats in this litterbox
@ChairmanMeow
Here in Finland you can have a connection with 200Mb/s down and 10Mb/s up for 55 euros per month. That's about 68 USD.
I bet they have a lot cheaper ones in Sweden and Japan, though...
I'm happy to live in Sweden. I pay 20$ a month for 100Mbit unlimited internet. I feel sorry for americans :)
@Nioreh Sweden is a great place, but don't make it sound like its "cheap". You pay for things one way or another (like Swedens astronomical tax rates). Again, not a bash on Sweden (great place, and their policies seem to work there) but not as cheap as Nioreh makes it seem.
@Nioreh Yep, we're a lucky bunch. I payed $40 for 100/100 before and now I could switch ISP and get it for half price. Life is good. It's seriously worrying that a lot of countries have such poor speeds though. It's a GLOBAL network after all.
@Nioreh : $20? That is cheap! I switched to Comhem XXL (swedish ISP) 100 Mbps connection and I have to pay almost $40 for that. This is an outrage!
@bp968 I completely agree. We have insane taxes. 25% VAT on most things, and a third of my paycheck gets lost in taxes too + all the other taxes and fees we pay. We're just lucky someone made a correct decisions on what to spend taxes on, I guess.
@polter I personally would rather pay more tax for better services but I can see both sides of the argument.
@Nioreh
Scandinavians are indeed blessed. For comparison, here in Germany the fastest DSL the average customer can get right now is 50 Mbps for about $50 (phone/data unlimited).
@Nioreh
I live in Murray, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City, and I pay 60$/month for 50Mb/s up and down. I love my city for installing this fiber network and not folding to Comcast/Quest lobbying like Salt Lake did.
@bp968 You make it sound like we pay for our broadband with taxes. Uh, we don't. That's a private sector driven by corporations.
@kopmis I would hazard a guess that their high taxes also include regulators with enough balls to actually REGULATE ISPs so they don't rape customers the way American ISPs do?
@bp968 The $20 is actually including swedish VAT (taxes), so without tax it would be $16/month....
@Argot Learn to never ever use ComHem for anything. Switch to some of your city's own city nets. They are often the fastest and cheapest nets available. Ranging from around $10 for 20Mbit, $20 for 100Mbit, all in full duplex (the same upload as download speed), without caps of course - but that you already know since you're not an american :)
@Nioreh Me too, the have always been after. 1 Gbit/s is even starting to get old in Sweden.
@Nioreh Hong Kong's "bb1000" - 1Gbps, no monthly cap, ~25 USD a month, no tax, no modem rental fee, no setup fee, can still bargain with salesman. Tested and used, and I've never had it going down on me.
Then I moved to Canada. @#$^&*(
@polter Yet, how much do you pay for university or college? How much do you pay for a doctor's appointment?
@jalexoid Isn't Sweden the country that pays for everyone's college education if they can pass a standardized test? I'm not sure, but I think it is. Or are you saying that they don't pay anything for that stuff? Very unclear...